Former New York City rapid transit line
IRT Ninth Avenue Elevated The Ninth Avenue El's "suicide curve" at
110th Street , in 1896
Other name(s) West Side and Yonkers Patent Railway West Side and Yonkers Patent Elevated Railway Company Westside Patented Elevated Railway Company Ninth Avenue El Commenced July 1, 1867 (1867-07-01 ) Opened July 1, 1868 (1868-07-01 ) Completed April 1868 (1868-04 ) Cable railway 1868 Regular Service February 14, 1870 Electrification 1903 Closed June 11, 1940 (1940-06-11 ) (South of 155th Street)
August 31, 1958 (1958-08-31 ) (North of 155th Street) Number of tracks 2–3 Character elevated railway Track gauge 4 ft 8+ 1 ⁄2 in (1,435 mm ) standard gauge Electrification DC third rail
The IRT Ninth Avenue Line , often called the Ninth Avenue Elevated or Ninth Avenue El ,[ 1] was the first elevated railway in New York City . It opened in July 1868 as the West Side and Yonkers Patent Railway , as an experimental single-track cable-powered elevated railway from Battery Place, at the south end of Manhattan Island, northward up Greenwich Street to Cortlandt Street . By 1879 the line was extended to the Harlem River at 155th Street . It was electrified and taken over by the Interborough Rapid Transit Company in 1903.
The main line ceased operation in June 1940,[ 2] [ 3] after it was replaced by the IND Eighth Avenue Line which had opened in 1932. The last section in use, over the Harlem River , was known as the Polo Grounds Shuttle . It closed in August 1958.[ 4] This portion used a now-removed swing bridge called the Putnam Bridge ,[ 5] [ 6] and went through a still-extant tunnel with two partially underground stations.[ 7]
The line had the worst accident in the history of New York City elevated railways , on September 11, 1905, when a train derailed and fell to the street . There were 61 casualties.[ 8]
^ "Remembering the 9th Avenue El" . MTA.info . October 26, 2011. Archived from the original on August 18, 2014. Retrieved October 28, 2011 .
^ Ninth Avenue Elevated Closure Poster
^ "Two 'El' Lines End Transit Service" . New York Times . June 12, 1940. p. 27.
^ "imagejpg1_zpse1f8a458.jpg Photo by JavierMitty – Photobucket" . Photobucket .
^ "Image 8282" . nycsubway.org . June 14, 1958. Retrieved November 27, 2007 .
^ "Image 8296" . nycsubway.org . Retrieved November 27, 2007 .
^ Walsh, Kevin (December 25, 1999). "When Is a Subway Not a Subway?" . Forgotten NY . Retrieved November 27, 2007 .
^ Shaw, Robert B. (1961). Down Brakes: A History of Railroad Accidents, Safety Precautions and Operating Practices in the United States of America . London: P. R. Macmillan. OCLC 2641112 .